William Shatner raced back at warp speed to Los Angeles on Sunday, but even Mr. Scott couldn’t have gotten him enough engine power to make it in time for Leonard Nimoy’s funeral.
The legendary “Star Trek” actor — who played the most iconic iteration of Captain Kirk on TV and film — touched down at LAX at around 11:30 a.m. California time, according to TMZ.com.
However, the private funeral services for Nimoy, who played Shatner’s second-in-command, Mr. Spock, on the show, were held at 9 a.m. local time, a rep for the late actor told The Post.
Shatner took huge criticism over the weekend when it was announced that he would attend a Saturday night Red Cross charity ball at a swanky club in Palm Beach, Florida, rather than fly back to LA for his co-star’s funeral.
The 83-year-old Shatner, who starred alongside Nimoy in the iconic sci-fi TV series’ three-year run (1966-69) and six motion pictures (1979-91) spent Sunday morning fending off a backlash, tweeting that he felt obligated to not cancel his appearance at the charity event.
“I chose to honor a commitment I made months ago . . . A lot of money was raised. So here I am; tell me off,” a defensive Shatner tweeted Sunday morning.
The actor also spent hours hosting a Twitter chat with his 2 million followers remembering his old pal “Lenny,” his favorite nickname for his late “Star Trek” co-star.
“He was serious, practical but unlike Spock very warm and loving,” Shatner tweeted at a fan who was curious if Nimoy was anything like his half-human, half-Vulcan friend.
Shatner fired back at critics who said the Priceline pitchman should have used his perks as the face of the travel company to jump on a flight after the fancy party ended.
“One of the other misconceptions seems to be that folks think flights to LAX occur all night long,” Shatner tweeted Sunday morning, adding that his two daughters planned to attend the funeral.
While there weren’t any red-eye flights out of West Palm Beach International Airport, there were at least five flights on various carriers that left Florida early Sunday and arrived at Los Angeles International Airport around noon.
It turns out he found his way onto one of those flights. Shatner, clad in blue jeans, a red polo and a brown leather jacket, was spotted at LAX shortly before noon wheeling multiple bags.
Reps for Nimoy would not reveal any details of Sunday’s private services for the actor.
The location was kept a tightly held secret, in an effort to avoid a large crowd of “Trek” fans showing up and causing a disruption.
Nimoy, who died Friday at 83 after losing his battle against chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, was a prominent member of Temple of Israel Hollywood.